The graphical timesheet is one HUGE innovation. You will like it! In addition to the normal textual timesheet, Standard Time® gives you a graphical timesheet that lets you see every time log for the week. You can drag and drop records to new slots or new days. Or, you can drag and drop the starting and ending times. This lets you manipulate time records with your mouse.

Timesheets are made up of records called time logs. Each time log has a starting and ending time, along with the actual work time. There are lots of other ancillary fields, but the timesheet uses these to place the record onto the grid. The same is true of the graphical timesheet. Time log records are placed on the view based on their dates, times, and actual work hours. You can visually see where each time log record belongs.

Seeing time logs in a graphical timesheet is an immense help when you are required to account for every hour of your day. Not every company requires this, but some do. (DCAA may eventually require this for government contracting.) Seeing hourly bubbles show up for every hour of every working day reassures you that you have met your working requirements, and that you have no overlapping time segments. Textual timesheets don't offer this at-a-glance reassurance that you have covered your week completely.

There's another reassurance you get with an at-a-glance graphical timesheet: you can easily spot gaps. When you see a gap, you immediately start wondering what you did on that day. Memory is triggered, and you can quickly fill the gap with the work you did -- just drag out a selection for that gap and up pops the Edit Time Log dialog that lets you fill out the appropriate fields.

Some companies do not allow overlapping time entries. After all, how could you possibly work on two things at once. (This is another thing DCAA may eventually outlaw.) A graphical view instantly shows overlapping records. You can grab them and shift them around to accurately reflect your work day.

One last thing... you can easily switch back and forth between the graphical timesheet and the normal timesheet. You don't need to stay in one mode forever. Sometimes a textual timesheet is easier to mentally process, then it comes to viewing projects and tasks, and the weekly totals. Fortunately, the time log records used in both timesheets are common, so any changes you make in one mode are immediately displayed in the other.